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Just got my MPB - sending it back...

S

Simon R.

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 25, 2006
416
132
Just received my 15" 2.2 MBP - unfortunately there is a problem with bleeding backlight at the right bottom of it, so I arranged for a return. A shame, since the rest of the machine seemed to be working as it should, and no yellow tint or anything.

One thing puzzled me though. There was a "This backlight screen contains mercury..." sticker on the case. I thought LED screens didn't have mercury? So either Apple are doing 15" SR MBP's without the LED screen, or the labeling was wrong... hmm.
 
Sorry to hear about the problem!

Reading all these MBP problems really puts me off getting one...
 
Simon R. said:
Just received my 15" 2.2 MBP - unfortunately there is a problem with bleeding backlight at the right bottom of it, so I arranged for a return. A shame, since the rest of the machine seemed to be working as it should, and no yellow tint or anything.

One thing puzzled me though. There was a "This backlight screen contains mercury..." sticker on the case. I thought LED screens didn't have mercury? So either Apple are doing 15" SR MBP's without the LED screen, or the labeling was wrong... hmm.
Click to expand...

It's most likely Apple just using the old labels - they aren't doing 15.4" MBP's without LED backlighting.
 
bertpalmer said:
Sorry to hear about the problem!

Reading all these MBP problems really puts me off getting one...
Click to expand...

Remember, consumer will usually voice out when they are complaining and just shut their mouth when everything are running perfectly (or even beyond expectation).... So if everyone do praise, I think the total thread here might be millions of threads more than what you can find right now...
 
gtgrad95 said:
What exactly is "backlight bleeding"?
Click to expand...

I had it too. Basically it's where light 'bleeds' out from the edge of the screen. it's almost as if they just didn't seal the edge correctly, rather than it being an uneven lighting issue. The light bleeds out and somewhat illuminates the screen from the front, making it brighter.
 
Trepex said:
I had it too. Basically it's where light 'bleeds' out from the edge of the screen. it's almost as if they just didn't seal the edge correctly, rather than it being an uneven lighting issue. The light bleeds out and somewhat illuminates the screen from the front, making it brighter.
Click to expand...

Every MB (not MBP) I've seen has awful backlight issues, and when you mention it to someone who deals with Macs, not one knows what backlight bleeding is.
 
drake said:
Every MB (not MBP) I've seen has awful backlight issues, and when you mention it to someone who deals with Macs, not one knows what backlight bleeding is.
Click to expand...

They are probably too busy actually using the machines to notice... :rolleyes:
 
A friend of mine has a Macbook, glossy - screen looks fine, no bleeding that I have noticed. Another one has a 17" MBP - maybe not 100% even backlighting, but no bleeding. I'd rather have a little bit of unevenness than this bleeding at the bottom which immediately caught my eye as very distracting.

And contrary to one of the repliers here, I would indeed have written a "Got a new MBP - it rocks" post if that was the case, as many others have done here. As it stands now, it is undisputable that a lot of people who frequent these boards are unhappy about the new MBP's.

As for my case, apparently QC thought that kind of bleeding wasn't a problem - or do they even look at the screens...

I am sorry, but when I pay $3000 for a laptop, I want it to be close to perfect. And I will say that Apple Support was very quick and nice to deal with and they should be picking it up in a couple of days. Then I'll order another one in mid July - hopefully that will be the one I will keep.
 
I used to think that LED screens could not bleed and that this problem was an LCD screen based problem..? But I guess I am mistaken :confused:
 
Strigoi said:
I used to think that LED screens could not bleed and that this problem was an LCD screen based problem..? But I guess I am mistaken :confused:
Click to expand...

Or maybe Apple are cheating and started shipping some of the units (because of the problems, or because of lack of stock) with regular LCD screens - hence the "mercury" label on my case...? Anyone who got one with LED screen without the "mercury" label on the case?
 
My MBP also has backlight bleed at the bottom. On a black screen, it looks like a bunch of little lights shooting up from behind the bezel. On colors, I see a bunch of alternating light/dark spots in the bottom few mm of the display.

Do you also happen to notice if the left side of your display is considerably brighter than the right? I'm planning to return mine for this reason. It gives every solid background a nice "Web 2.0" type gradient that's very distracting after a while.
 
Alloye said:
My MBP also has backlight bleed at the bottom. On a black screen, it looks like a bunch of little lights shooting up from behind the bezel. On colors, I see a bunch of alternating light/dark spots in the bottom few mm of the display.

Do you also happen to notice if the left side of your display is considerably brighter than the right? I'm planning to return mine for this reason. It gives every solid background a nice "Web 2.0" type gradient that's very distracting after a while.
Click to expand...

Apart from the bleeding at the right side bottom, there didn't seem to be any problem with the display: evenly lit, no flickering, no yellow tint, nothing. I am still somewhat convinced that I got a new SR MBP with standard LCD display though... It didn't look any different/sharper or anything that I saw on the "old" MBP's. But maybe I am wrong. When I saw the mercury label I was just puzzled....

I really think you should return yours. Mine got packed away 15 minutes after I unwrapped it and I called Apple to return it.
 
Simon R. said:
I really think you should return yours. Mine got packed away 15 minutes after I unwrapped it and I called Apple to return it.
Click to expand...

I'm going to. The problem is that I live four hours from my "local" Apple store, so the trip will have to wait until this weekend. :(
 
Simon R. said:
Strigoi said:
I used to think that LED screens could not bleed and that this problem was an LCD screen based problem..? But I guess I am mistaken
Click to expand...
Or maybe Apple are cheating and started shipping some of the units (because of the problems, or because of lack of stock) with regular LCD screens - hence the "mercury" label on my case...? Anyone who got one with LED screen without the "mercury" label on the case?
Click to expand...

Stop spreading FUD; the new MacBook Pros still use LCD screens, nothing has changed there and no one ever claimed it did. There is no such thing as an "LED screen." The new 15.4" MacBook Pros have LED backlighting that is noticeably brighter and, which this does eliminate a lot of the mercury use in new MBPs, I'm sure there is some component that still uses a trace amount of mercury.
 
Sbrocket said:
Stop spreading FUD; the new MacBook Pros still use LCD screens, nothing has changed there and no one ever claimed it did. There is no such thing as an "LED screen." The new 15.4" MacBook Pros have LED backlighting that is noticeably brighter and, which this does eliminate a lot of the mercury use in new MBPs, I'm sure there is some component that still uses a trace amount of mercury.
Click to expand...

If you paid attention you would see that I wrote "REGULAR LCD screen" - to emphasize the difference between this and the LED backlit ones. I am perfectly aware that the technology is pretty much the same with a few differences. Funny that Apple market their new LED screens as mercury free if this is not the case, wouldn't you say...
 
Simon R. said:
If you paid attention you would see that I wrote "REGULAR LCD screen" - to emphasize the difference between this and the LED backlit ones. I am perfectly aware that the technology is pretty much the same with a few differences. Funny that Apple market their new LED screens as mercury free if this is not the case, wouldn't you say...
Click to expand...

To answer your question then, no, Apple isn't shipping SR MBP's without LED-backlighting.

I think the most obvious explanation for that "mercury" sticker is that either they are just using old stickers or that some other component still has some mercury (this seems unlikely though, i don't know what else would).
 
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